Self-assessment tax default attracts automatic interest; revised returns and interim protection do not erase delayed payment liability.

Under self-assessment under section 13(2) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, tax on disclosed works contract turnover became due on the statutory date, and unpaid tax attracted automatic interest under section 24(3) without any separate demand or provisional assessment. Revised returns filed after the due date did not wipe out the earlier default, and interim orders obtained in related litigation did not extinguish the statutory consequence of delayed payment. The retrospective insertion of section 3-B confirmed the taxability of works contract turnover from the retrospective date. The impugned orders sustaining interest liability were therefore maintained.

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Issues: (i) Whether a self-assessment dealer under section 13(2) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, who disclosed the taxable works contract turnover but paid the tax belatedly, was liable to interest under section 24(3); (ii) Whether the filing of revised returns before final assessment and the earlier interim orders regarding works contract liability excluded the statutory liability to interest.

Issue (i): Whether a self-assessment dealer under section 13(2) of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959, who disclosed the taxable works contract turnover but paid the tax belatedly, was liable to interest under section 24(3).

Analysis: Under section 13(2) read with rule 18 of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Rules, 1959, tax under self-assessment becomes due on the prescribed date without any notice of demand. Section 24(3) makes interest payable automatically on any amount remaining unpaid after the due date. The Court held that the statutory liability to pay tax arose when the return was due and that the absence of a provisional assessment did not prevent interest from running on the unpaid amount.

Conclusion: The liability to pay interest under section 24(3) existed and operated against the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the filing of revised returns before final assessment and the earlier interim orders regarding works contract liability excluded the statutory liability to interest.

Analysis: The Court held that revised returns filed after the due date did not erase the default already committed. The retrospective insertion of section 3-B of the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax Act, 1959 cured the legislative defect noted in earlier litigation and confirmed the taxability of works contract turnover from the retrospective date. The interim protection obtained by the assessees could not defeat the statutory consequence of delayed payment, and the cited authorities on different statutory schemes or materially different facts did not assist the assessees.

Conclusion: The revised returns and interim orders did not absolve the assessee from interest liability.

Final Conclusion: The statutory scheme treated the tax as due on the prescribed date, and delayed payment attracted compensatory interest notwithstanding later revised returns or earlier interim orders; the impugned orders were therefore sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: In self-assessment under section 13(2), once tax is due on the statutory date, any unpaid amount attracts automatic interest under section 24(3), and subsequent revised returns or interim court protection do not extinguish that liability.

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